1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to early identification of the gender of individual plants of the species Phoenix dactylifera (“Date Palm”), and particularly to identifying Date Palm gender using Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (“SCAR”) primers specific for a novel sex-linked genetic sequence.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Date Palm is a long-lived dioecious monocotyledon, which is cultivated in arid regions for food, fiber, and shelter. It is a member of the Palmae family and its fruit, dates, are known to provide a good source of energy, vitamins, phosphorus, iron, zinc, selenium, manganese, and calcium. (Ellecuh, M. et al., “Date flesh: chemical composition and characteristics of the dietary fiber,” Food Chem. 111: 67-82 (2008)) Because of these characteristics, the Date Palm is an economically important crop in arid zones, including many Middle-Eastern Countries.
Unfortunately, the gender of individual Date Palm plants cannot be determined until they reach reproductive age, between five and ten years old. This significantly increases the cost of cultivating Dates from seeds, as only the female plants bear fruit. A reliable method of early detection of Date Palm gender would significantly increase the profits of seed based cultivation.
Historically, this issue has been addressed by propagating Date Palm cultivars through offshoots. However, reliance upon offshoot propagation reduces genetic diversity, increasing the risk of catastrophic loss to diseases and decreasing the capacity of the plants to survive changes in environmental conditions. Thus, a method of identifying Date Palm gender using a reliable genetic marker such as a sex-linked SCAR marker is desired.